UIDAI issues 100,000th Aadhar number

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India today issued its 100,000th Aadhar number as part of the goverment's ambitious project to give all citizens of the country a unique identity number.

Lakshmamma from Tumkur in Karnataka received the 100,000th Aadhaar number.

"Crossing one lakh enrolments in this short span of time is a welcome milestone for us," Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the UIDAI, said in a statement.

"And the credit for this goes far beyond the UIDAI team. A lot of people - state government officials, the enrolling agencies, as well as the UIDAI team, its TDU (Technology Development Unit) , PMU (Project Management Unit), sabbatical resources and volunteers are working together, and put in substantial effort towards getting the enrolments done."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on September 29, 2010 issued the first Aadhaar number to Ranjna Sadashiv Sonwane, a tribal woman from Tembhali village in Nandurbar, Maharashtra.

The UIDAI plans to issue 600 million Aadhaar numbers in the next four years to citizens.

"Over these last six weeks, the UIDAI has rapidly ramped up enrolments for the Aadhaar number across seven states - Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra," the statement said.

Life Insurance Corporation of India and Indira Gandhi National Open University have also come on board as registrars for Aadhaar numbers, and have started enrolments.

More registrars are expected to begin Aadhaar enrolments in the next few weeks, UIDAI said.

"The emphasis in Aadhaar enrolment continues to be India's poorest and marginalised residents," Nilekani said.

Aadhaar enrolments have begun in rural areas across the seven states, and with the homeless in Delhi.